M E A S U R E M E N T S A N D

SCIENTIFIC N O T A T I O N
LESSON 1
WHY STUDY PHYSICS?
• THE STUDY OF PHYSICS IS AN ADVENTURE!~~
• YOU WILL FIND IT CHALLENGING, SOMETIMES FRUSTRATING,
OCCASIONALLY PAINFUL (AND OFTEN RICHLY REWARDING!)

• IF YOU’VE EVER WONDERED WHY THE SKY IS BLUE, HOW RADIO

WAVES CAN TRAVEL THROUGH EMPTY SPACE, OR HOW A SATELLITE
STAYS IN ORBIT, YOU CAN FIND THE ANSWERS BY USING
FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS.

• YOU WILL COME TO SEE PHYSICS AS A TOWERING ACHIEVEMENT OF

THE HUMAN INTELLECT IN ITS QUEST TO UNDERSTAND OUR WORLD
AND OURSELVES.
PHYSICISTS AND MEASUREMENTS
•TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER’S WORK, PHYSICISTS
HAVE TO KNOW PRECISELY AND ACCURATELY THE
MEASUREMENTS DONE IN THE STUDY (AND ALSO
WHAT MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE AND HOW THEY
WERE DONE)
 ACCURACY
• THE ACCURACY OF A MEASUREMENT
DEPENDS ON THE DEGREE OF REFINEMENT
OF THE MEASURING DEVICE.

*EVERY REPORTED MEASUREMENT OF A CERTAIN PROPERTY

OF A
MATERIAL IS JUST THE BEST ESTIMATE OF THE CORRECT
VALUE.
 ACCURACY AND PROBABILITY LIMIT
•EXAMPLE: THE LENGTH OF A BEAM IS MEASURED TO BE
220±5CM.
•THE UNCERTAINTY (±5CM) IS A PROBABILITY LIMIT.
• HIGHER PROBABILITY LIMIT CORRESPONDS TO A LOW DEGREE
OF ACCURACY.
• LOWER PROBABILITY LIMIT CORRESPONDS TO A HIGH DEGREE
OF ACCURACY
FINDING THE PERCENT OF UNCERTAINTY

•EXAMPLE:
PRECISION (OR REPEATABILITY)
•DEPENDS ON THE WAY THE MEASUREMENTS
WERE TAKEN.
•MAKING REPEATED CAREFUL MEASUREMENTS OF THE
SAME QUANTITY VERIFIES IF THE MEASUREMENT IS
PRECISE OR NOT.
• HIGH PRECISION CORRESPONDS TO MULTIPLE MEASUREMENTS
WITH CLOSE VALUES
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
•AKA POWER-OF-TEN NOTATION WRITTEN AS:
• WHERE A= NUMBER FROM 1-10
B= INTEGER
• THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE IS 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 METERS OR
1X10+27 METERS

• THE DIAMETER OF A HYDROGEN ATOM IS 0.0000000001 METERS OR 1X10-10

METERS
OPERATIONS ON SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
•ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION:
• ALL NUMBERS MUST HAVE THE SAME EXPONENT. THE SUM OR
DIFFERENCE WILL HAVE THE SAME EXPONENT AS THE
NUMBERS WE ARE OPERATING ON.

EXAMPLE:
OPERATIONS ON SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
•MULTIPLICATION

•DIVISION: